Art Institute shuffles free-admission days

The Art Institute of Chicago is getting rid of its free Thursday evenings program in favor of a new Wednesday schedule to attract more local residents, according to a museum spokeswoman.

Target Free Thursday Evenings -- when there is no admission charge from 5 to 8 p.m. -- will resume Feb. 10 and stop on May 26. After that, the first and second Wednesdays of each month will be free all day, starting June 1. The museum will still be open late on Thursdays but admission will be charged all day.

The move is an effort by the museum to attract more locals than tourists to its free-admission night, which officials said is intended to benefit residents.

"The tracking that we did over the summer and the fall for the Thursday night free hours showed that we were getting a majority of tourists and out-of-state residents," said spokeswoman Erin Hogan. "The reason that the Art Institute and all the museums offer free hours is to serve the community that supports us with tax dollars."

Wednesdays, Hogan said, gives residents the first bite at the apple.

"We were just trying to avoid the days closer to the weekend when we get more tourists than the middle of the week," she said.

Hogan added that free admission on a weekday also works better for teachers and professors, many of whom feel that Thursday evenings were not opportune times for school visits.

"We've decided to switch over in June to get a lot of people who are on break, and then going into the school year it will be easier for professors to bring their classes," Hogan said.

The museum is making other changes to its 2011 schedule. It cut its Free February program, in which admission was free every day of the month. Instead, the museum is offering free weekdays until Feb. 4. Weekends still require normal entrance fees.

The museum will also close at 5 p.m. on Fridays, instead of 8 p.m. Visitors can continue to attend Friday evenings until Feb. 25, after which evenings will only be open to ticketholders for scheduled events in the auditoriums through May.